


Surviving

by WhoCop



Series: The Hiraeth Kids AU [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Sibling Bonding, brief mention of the time war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoCop/pseuds/WhoCop
Summary: Ali and Lizzie talk about what's actually helpful---Hi everyone! This is the first work I've ever posted that is explicitly related to my Doctor Who AU that I've had spilling around in my head since 2013There's no real good starting point so I figure why not throw you into the middle of things and just see what you guys think of these characters! (Set immediately after The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character
Series: The Hiraeth Kids AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641082





	Surviving

**Author's Note:**

> If you want some background on the two characters in this story please check out my [ blog for this au ](https://dw-thehiraethkids.tumblr.com/) or shoot an ask to that blog or [ my personal blog ](https://thinking-about-ducks.tumblr.com/)
> 
> All you really need to know is that Lizzie and Ali are the Doctor's kids from different points in their timeline with Lizzie being their adopted human daughter and Ali is full Time Lord. Ali is married to Alex and their son is Leo, but they're only mentioned briefly. Rallon was the Doctor's first child and Susan's father (named after the Doctor's friend who died at the Academy) and he died during the time war
> 
> And I think that's the basics but if you guys really do want more information please send me asks I really love these characters more than life itself and I'm always down to gush about them

She was tired of it. But she didn’t know anything else. She didn't get overloaded like the rest of her family did, but this, this was enough to make her want to tear her hair out. She wasn’t ready to leave yet, she’d have to soon probably for uni, but she wasn't ready. But at the same time if she had to spend five more minutes with her mother she was going to set something on fire, and she knew the TARDIS wouldn’t like that. 

She started throwing things into her duffle bag; she didn't want to be there any more and it wasn't like her mother didn't basically say she didn't want her there anyway. She figured she had everything she needed, and if not its not like she was going to dump her somewhere without shops. She slung her bags onto her shoulders and walked-- an unusually long walk --back to the console room. The TARDIS didn't want her to go. And honestly she didn't want to either but there wasn't much of a choice at the moment. “I’ll be back soon.” She put her hand on the wall. 

Stepping into the console room was...tense, to say the least. She didn't want to talk to her mum. She felt like she was being kicked out. She was in some way. “Are you dropping me off with Ali and Alex?” She didn't make eye contact, she didn't even look in her direction. She stared straight ahead at the door. 

They could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. She didn't blame the fam for being there in the console room; the four of them were busy planning on how to deal with an impending Cyberman invasion. She wasnt invited. “Yes.” She was invited to be babysat by her big sister. 

She could handle herself against Cybermen, she’d been doing it since she was old enough to walk. Nothing had changed. She thought back to Bill. _Everything had changed._ She sighed as she heard the wheezing of the TARDIS materialization. This was her stop. 

She finally looked at her mum, she tried to smile, it wasn't as real as she would have liked, “See ya.” 

“I’ll pick you up when we’re done?” She barely looked up from the screens. 

“Yeah.” She knew this body wasn't as keen on physical affection but she couldn't help the sting of not at least getting a hug goodbye. She still wasn’t used to it. Her parents had always been so clingy when she was a kid. What if she never saw her again? 

She shook her head and closed the door behind her. Nothing was going to happen, she was just staying with Ali and Alex for a bit. She bit back tears as she watched the TARDIS dematerialize. She’d seen that sight hundreds of times, but this time it felt too much like when she’d been dumped back in time. She felt stuck. 

She crossed her arms over her chest and made her way to the house. Nothing she could do about it now. “Hey.” She really hoped they didn't hear her voice crack. 

Alex poked his head into the front room, “Lizzie? What are you doing here?” 

She laughed, it came out bitter, “Got kicked out.”

Ali seemed to teleport into the room upon hearing she’d been kicked out. “Kicked out? Why? Are you okay?”

Lizzie bit her lip. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell them, but it wasn't like they wouldn't find out eventually. “Got in an argument with mum, y’know the usual.” 

“About what? She's not the type to you know--” Alex gestured around wildly. 

“She was treating me like an over-glorified Webkinz. Acting like I have no agency in my life. If i think sacrificing myself-- which was never actually on the table by the way, she blew it way out of proportion --to save the universe is right I think that should be my choice.” She pulled on the strap of her duffle bag. She felt like she was being interrogated. She really just wanted to get to her room and have a good cry. Alone. “Can I just go to my room?” 

Ali looked at her nervously before nodding. She’d go to her when she felt like the time was right. No need to push her. “You know where everything is right?” Host script had activated. Lizzie was in the clear. 

“Yeah thanks Ali.” She made her way upstairs, barely looking at the framed family portraits lining the rail. She knew she was in more than half of them despite not being in their nuclear family. That was a nice reminder that she still very much had a place in the family. 

She threw her stuff on the floor, she’d put it away later. (She was silently hoping she wouldn't have to put it away, mum would be back soon.) She flopped onto the bed, staring at a ceiling that Alex had put glow in the dark stars at some point during his younger years. Or a week ago, Lizzie never knew with him. 

She couldn’t cry anymore. That was worse than the crying itself. The lump in your throat. The tears burning your eyes. But nothing came of it. No catharsis. She took a shaky breath and rubbed her face. What to do now? She really had allotted the time until dinner for crying. 

She didn't have to decide because Ali knocked on her door. She knew it was Ali because Alex would have accompanied the knock with the offer of going to Disney (even without the TARDIS Alex had ways of travelling through time and space) it was the only way he knew how to cheer her up. And it wasn't Leo because odds were he’d probably just come in, or he wouldn't come in at all. “Come in.”

“Over glorified Webkinz, huh? Alex explained that for me.” Lizzie actually laughed. Ali hadn't grown up in 21st century earth and sometimes it showed. 

“Yeah” Lizzie muttered, “She thinks we're just porcelain you know? But I’m tougher than she thinks, I’m steel. If only she’d let me show her.”

Ali took a minute to decipher her metaphor, “She wants to protect you. _Us._ Did you ever meet Rallon?”

Lizzie shook her head. The first of the siblings. They were strictly forbidden from Gallifrey when she was a kid and he was long gone by the time the Doctor had come back for them. 

Ali sighed, “He was a pretty great big brother.”

Lizzie’s heart broke. She didn't know Ali had actually had a relationship with him. That must have really sucked. Before Lizzie could express her condolences for his loss Ali spoke up again, “She doesn’t want to lose another one of us. Steel has its limits too.”

Lizzie drew in a sharp intake of breath, she was still angry, she was still hurting, but she was still upset for the brother she’d never known. “I know it has limits but she’s acting like if I’m porcelain then she’s vibranium, but she's not, we’re equally steel. And don’t say it's because she’s a Time Lord, so are you so was Rallon. It’s not an immortality function.”

“She's lost--”

“The amount of people who traveled with her and died is small. Most people leave, and if they don't by choice they live out lives, full and fulfilling lives. I can survive just as well or better than any of the others, I’ve been skirting death my whole life.” She boasted it like it was a talent to skirt death. Not like it was the universe’s longest and most dangerous game of Russian Roulette. When would the bullet finally hit her? 

“You don't get it do you? You didn't lose anyone during the War. You don't know what it's like to lose everyone you love in an instant. Your parents. Your brother. Your family. The first person you ever loved. Gone. It's one thing when she loses her companions. It stings, but they only last for a moment of eternity, even if they survive; but when it's your own flesh and blood it leaves you with scars so deep you’re traumatized for the rest of your life.” Ali looked at Lizzie, the most serious she ever had, “Don't do that to her.”

“I can't--I don't think I can live without the travelling though. It’s all I’ve ever known.” Lizzie’s voice didn't break a whisper. 

“Then travel.” Ali smiled, “Just do it without getting shot by a Dalek. Keep your adventures to the fun ones and not the deadly ones.”

“But I’m tough, I’m a fighter, I want to help.” Lizzie was pleading, as if Ali was in charge of who got to go where in the TARDIS. 

“You are helping right here. By being safe. So mum doesn’t have to stop to check in on you during a fight. You’re saving her precious minutes just by sitting here.” Ali pointed down at the bed. 

Lizzie smiled a soft smile, “You think she’s coming back?”

“I know so.”


End file.
